Forty years of LGBTQ+ anti-abuse work#
Galop has worked with LGBTQ+ victims and survivors of abuse and violence for more than 40 years, and describes itself as the UK's LGBTQ+ anti-abuse charity. It is run by LGBTQ+ people, for LGBTQ+ people. Its specialisms are domestic abuse, sexual violence, hate crime, conversion practices, honour-based abuse and forced marriage, and it works on policy and research as well as with individuals. It is still registered under its older name, the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Anti-Violence and Policing Group.
Reaching the helpline and an advocate#
The helpline is free and is for LGBTQ+ people aged 18 and over in the UK, and for friends, family and professionals worried about someone. You can phone on weekdays (later on Mondays and Tuesdays, closed for an hour at lunchtime), email, or use webchat, which for now opens only on Wednesdays and Thursdays because of staffing. A chatbot with information is available at any hour. Each conversation can last up to about 40 minutes.
For longer-term help, Galop's advocates and caseworkers take referrals through an online form, from you or from a professional. A caseworker arranges a first conversation, and the team can provide translation and a British Sign Language interpreter. They help with safety, your rights and options, emergency housing, the criminal justice system, and referrals to local LGBTQ+ services.
A service for 13 to 25 year olds#
Galop's young people's service supports LGBTQ+ people aged 13 to 25 who are facing abuse at home, from partners, from others their age or from adults, including those who are homeless or at risk of it. Under 18s refer themselves through the online form. Its page on children and young people makes two promises that bear on names: your advocate will ask what name and pronouns to use in their work with you, and if you need them to use a different name when they contact someone on your behalf, they will do that too. For 13 to 17 year olds, it explains that safeguarding duties can override confidentiality.
Names, abuse and the paperwork#
Galop's description of LGBTQ+ domestic abuse includes threatening to reveal someone's gender identity or gender history, and deliberately using the wrong pronouns. A legal change of name can take some of that power away, and the rules are simpler than many people expect:
- From 16 you can make your own deed poll with GOV.UK's free wording, and nobody else needs to agree.
- Under 16, the change needs the consent of each person with parental responsibility, usually your parents, or a court order instead, which is the hard part when they are the ones causing harm.
- No certificate is needed. The deed poll changes the name, and GOV.UK says you do not need a Gender Recognition Certificate to update your passport, driving licence, medical, employment or bank records.
- Enrolment is optional and public: the Gazette notice prints the new name with an address, which is why a deed kept at home suits anyone who wants discretion.
Your former name does not disappear: anyone you show the deed to sees both names, and some checks ask for previous names. Our page on who can see your former name explains the confidential route the DBS offers transgender applicants.
More on names and identity#
- Changing your name when you transition: documents, passports and the order to do things in.
- Changing your name at 16 or 17: what you can do without a parent.
- Changing a trans child's name: when someone is under 16.
- Charities that help after domestic abuse.
This page describes what Galop publishes on its website, read on 26 October 2026. Galop has not reviewed it, and listing it here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
